Déjà Vu

I've been reading and witnessing the same thing for nine years; same plot, but different scenarios. I've already covered corporate blunders the past 100 years where the corporate elite "erred," but working class taxpayers paid the bill.

Let's pick up with Enron, where 100 million workers lost their pensions, benefits and or jobs. Enron employees were not allowed to sell their shares, but Enron officials did. Then the rich (top 5 percent) received significant tax breaks while the working class received nothing.

The out-sourcing of jobs continued (tens of thousands) by manufacturers who shipped their plants first to Mexico then to China and India, with people's taxes footing the bill. To "pour salt on the wound" that "elite" took their millions offshore to avoid paying taxes. They continued to reap harvests from their "investments" in China and elsewhere.

Does anyone recall why President Clinton passed NAFTA? To send the jobs to Mexico to keep their workers there instead of coming here. Also, it was bad enough that corporate raiders stole pension funds from corporations who were required to reserve funds for pensions, benefits, etc; then corporations pleaded to the Republic Congress that they could not afford to pay those pensions etc. So Congress complied and "relieved" more working people of their hard earned benefits. Again, please recall that these pensions were earned in place of wage increases. Back then, they were not taxed but now they are. The end result: Middle class is disappearing before our very eyes.

As noted numerous times, the minimum wage is the standard, no benefits for two-thirds of working people, including temps and part-time workers. Back in the '80s the term entrepreneur was introduced to the public. The mass numbers of workers who had spent their careers with one corporation were simply fired to reduce the cost of labor; however, workers could then contract with the corporation to do the same work for less salary but no benefits with a six month or one year commitment; millions of them today.

In the meantime, wages for regular folks remain stagnant while costs continue to rise. It is astonishing that corporations and utilities continue to increase costs, even though workers remain at the same wage level. Especially retired people, those who worked for 30-40 years to earn those pensions, etc., then watch them decrease or disappear.

Gabriel Read
Avon Park